Maybe you found a book about the Craft and what you read resonated with you.  Or perhaps you took one of those often-silly online tests and you ended up with the result Pagan or Wiccan by a decent percentage and you went, ‘Hey, what’s that?’.  You might have met someone who claimed to be a Witch and that stirred your curiosity and set the cauldron of your mind to bubbling.  A Tarot reading at a Renaissance festival, maybe a stray remark made by someone that people really do that stuff in the campy goth-pseudo horror flick, The Craft.  Or perhaps you caught a peek of a pentacle tucked inside the shirt collar of the girl in the checkout line and you haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

There are as many different ways to come to this path as there are people to take the journey.  One of these might be yours.  Or maybe, your way of coming to this path was to find this website today.  Regardless of how you came here or if you stay, for the moment, let me say Welcome!

Neo-paganism in its many forms is one of the fastest growing (if not THE fastest growing) religious group in the United States today.  The American Religious Identification Study (known as ARIS – see this link for even more details) reported in 2001 that there were approximately 134,000 Wiccans, 140,000 Pagans, and 30,000 Druids in the United States alone.  Additionally, the section of the ARIS that tracks New Religious Movements — the section comprised of New Age, Pagan, Wiccan, Druidic, Unitarian Universalist, Santeria and other similar faiths — showed a huge growth of nearly 60% since 2001, now numbering nearly 3 million people nationwide.  The number may very well be higher if you take into count all those who still hide their beliefs for fear of persecution or judgment and who may not have felt inclined to admit their religious affiliation in a survey over the phone to someone they’ve never met.  Even if you take the 2008 estimate that 0.02% of the population follows a pagan path (that’s basic pagan, not including Wicca or other specific variety of neopaganism), and if you estimate the current US population as being somewhere just over 300 million, that means at least 60,000 other people in the country have asked the same questions you are asking now.

In other words, you are not alone.

I wanted to say that up front because there are times on this path that you may certainly feel like you’re the only one.  I assure you that you are not.  Fortunately, we live in an age where the internet allows us the ability to connect quickly, easily and fairly confidentially with others of like mind through forums, email, and chat rooms.  There are also hundreds, maybe thousands of web pages out there all geared to put out information for people who are seeking.  At this point, you are more likely to want to run because you’re not sure which information is right than because you can’t find any information.

I’ve created this section of my website specifically for you, the new Seeker.  The posts in this category are designed to give you straight-forward information about the Craft, its practices, its core tenets, and what it’s like to live a life supported by this faith.

I’m not really going to get into a lot of heavy history here.  How the movement got here is not important right now.  What is important is that you are here now, that this spiritual path has called you, and you are on the cusp of a choice to either step down a new path or return the way you came, hopefully with good knowledge tucked away for future reference.  So, with that in mind, I’ll mainly be focusing on what the Craft is, and what it might mean to your life should you choose to join me and the many others on this path.

Before we go any farther, I should mention upfront that I am a persuasive writer, especially when it comes to my path.  I love the Craft and no other path I have ever investigated or followed has given as much to my life in meaning and practice.  However, regardless of my writing style, you need to be aware that it is not my intention or aim to convert you to my way of thinking.  You have the right to, at any time, navigate away from this page and your world will not end and no eternal punishment will be inflicted for not becoming Pagan/Wiccan.

I really hope we reach a day that I do not have to put a disclaimer such as this in posts to Seekers.  However, since most people come to the Craft from a mainstream religion that holds up eternal damnation and punishment as the result of not “seeing the Light” and “getting saved”, I still feel I should put it out there in black and white.  There is no hell in the Craft.  There is no punishment for not being Craft.  There is no boogey-man who is sitting there waiting for you if you choose something else.

In the Craft, there are no ultimatums.  I do not have a monthly quota of people to convince.  I do not get paid based on how many people fill my circle.  I do not believe that if you don’t do what I think is right for you that it gives me the right to threaten you until you come around to my way of thinking.  And, I can’t speak for any other Deity out there but all the Gods and Goddesses I know would rather have one devout follower than 1,000 who are just there as an insurance policy.

Spirituality has not been and never will be a popularity contest.  Religion, however, sometimes can be just that when we’re trying to fill pews and offering plates.   If there’s anything I want you to take away from this introduction before we go any farther, it’s that this is 100% about you.  What you think, what you feel, what your intuition says is right for you.  Your spiritual path is for you to decide.

Whether you know it or not, if you are here, it is because your path has begun actively speaking to you.  That you have heard that voice at all is a wondrous and special thing.  Many don’t hear the voice.  Many dismiss it out of hand because they are told it is evil.

My job now is very simple.  I will speak.  I will tell you what I know about this path, share my experiences, answer your questions.  If at any time, my voice becomes louder than your voice, I want you to stop reading, take a step back, and think about what you have learned so far until your voice speaks strong enough again that you can listen to someone else again.  These posts will still be here.  But if what I say becomes more true to you than your own inner wisdom, then I have done you a disservice instead of a service.  It is fine to resonate with what you’re reading, but I am not the voice of God/dess.  I am only a mirror.  When I no longer help you hear your own Divine nature, then my usefulness has passed.

And with that, let’s begin, shall we?    For ease of reading, I’ve linked the next post in the series at the end of each entry.  Click away!

Next entry in New to Wicca? — We All Have A Story And This One’s Mine

Photo by Eddi 07 (via Flickr).